Is Call of Duty a series for casual gamers?

That's what's awesome about Call of Duty ; it's casual enough that pretty much any casual gamer can dive in and play, but it can also be very competitive for the core gamers. That is also why Call of Duty is sooo successful.

I've played a few missions on Black Ops and one of the things I noticed right away is that it is a very linear scripted game that pretty much drags you through the experience and constantly pushes you to do exactly what the designers want you to do. There is very little freedom to do anything outside of that. So YES I would say it's a very casual game because it's mostly just an interactive movie that lets you run around on set but where everything plays out regardless of what you do and would pretty much do so even if you weren't there at all for the most part.

That's about as casual as I could imagine any fps game getting without it being completely on-rails to be honest and if you've played Dead Space Extraction on Wii you can see that a game like Black Ops really isn't very far away from being just like that game in terms of being a "guided first person experience".

Play the single player mode of a game like GoldenEye 007 Wii and you will see how much more interactive, dynamic and fun a decent fps campaign can be compared to something like Black Ops.

Not really. That they have been tailoring it to appeal more to casual gamers is true, but it hasn't crossed the line to become a casual game. Actually I can't even think how a FPS could be a casual game. Maybe make it like a rail-shooter with a DOOM like system where you just aim in one dimension, or something else kinda like that?????? Now you made me think.......:?

glez13

[QUOTE="glez13"]

Not really. That they have been tailoring it to appeal more to casual gamers is true, but it hasn't crossed the line to become a casual game. Actually I can't even think how a FPS could be a casual game. Maybe make it like a rail-shooter with a DOOM like system where you just aim in one dimension, or something else kinda like that?????? Now you made me think.......:?

Lost-Memory

[QUOTE="Renegade_Fury"]

COD1, United Offense, and COD2 (PC of course) leaned towards the hardcore mold in my mind. COD4 and so on has been what I'd consider casual, and everything Treyarch has ever made has been not only casualized, but also mediocre consolized trash. Big Red One anyone?

JuarN18

CoD1 + Expansion & CoD2 (on the PC) didn't have aim assist and God knows how many gimmicks to make it a hell of a lot easier on the consoles. Even a 8 year old can own in CoD MW2 & BO after a couple of days, and that's not a hate comment, my cousin is damn 8.

Now compare it to Counter Strike or Rainbow Six(on the PC). And so what kind of conclusion should i make? You tell me, ain't hatin' on the game, just stating facts..

If people get butthurt about that, ain't my fault.

I'm surprised the definition of casual game is being broadened so much lately. A casual game, in my mind, is a game that lacks depth (both in terms of design and presentation) and generally has a low learning curve. Call of Duty is a game series designed around traditional first-person shooter gaming precepts, and in terms of story, presentation and challenge there's no question in my mind that it's a core game.

Simply being popular with the masses isn't enough for me to consider a game non-core. There's nothing wrong with core game mechanics being popular with the general audience, in fact, it's a great thing.

The focus on cinematic, scripted sequences seems more to me like a design choice rather than a deliberate attempt to dumb-down the game.